EFFECT OF SULFONAMIDES AND ANTIBIOTICS ON PANOPHTHALMITIS COMPLICATING CATARACT EXTRACTION

Abstract

IN MANY fields of medicine and surgery, the sulfonamides and antibiotics have greatly reduced the frequency and severity of infections and have altered the types and the strains of responsible micro-organisms. It has been the purposes of this study (1) to ascertain whether the use of these compounds and preoperative cultures of the conjunctivae and lids have reduced the incidence of panophthalmitis following cataract extraction, (2) to learn whether the type of organism responsible has been changed by the use of these substances, and (3) to discover whether vision and the globes that nevertheless have become involved with panophthalmitis after cataract extraction have been salvaged by their use. I have used for material a series of 1,653 cases of cataract extractions composed of my private cases and the charity cases in which extractions were performed by members of the attending staff and resident staff of the Hillman (University of Alabama)